Results 981-1,000 of 4,156 for speaker:Cormac Devlin

Investment in Healthcare: Statements (19 Oct 2023)

Cormac Devlin: I welcome the opportunity to examine the Government’s investment in healthcare today. This debate needs to be framed in the context of the unprecedented increase in funding for the health service, going from €19 billion in 2019 to over €24 billion today. Inflation has caused massive challenges across society and this is no different for the health sector. The Minister,...

Public Accounts Committee: Children’s Health Ireland and National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Discussion (19 Oct 2023)

Cormac Devlin: I thank the Cathaoirleach and Deputy Ó Cathasaigh. I appreciate it. I thank the witnesses for the update and the information provided. Mr. Gunning remains optimistic and has a positive outlook, given the history of the project and the issues with it. He said that 32% of the rooms were near completion or progress was being made-----

Public Accounts Committee: Children’s Health Ireland and National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Discussion (19 Oct 2023)

Cormac Devlin: So there is substantial progress. The update Mr. Gunning provided shows much progress on various wards and rooms since members visited the site. That is good to see, if we are to take a silver lining from today. That said, and to take up the issue my colleagues raised, which I appreciate is a tricky conversation for the witnesses, there is a substantial number of outstanding claims. I...

Public Accounts Committee: Children’s Health Ireland and National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Discussion (19 Oct 2023)

Cormac Devlin: They are not included in the 2,300 claims.

Public Accounts Committee: Children’s Health Ireland and National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Discussion (19 Oct 2023)

Cormac Devlin: The 2,300 figure is purely for the children’s hospital.

Public Accounts Committee: Children’s Health Ireland and National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Discussion (19 Oct 2023)

Cormac Devlin: Roughly how many claims were there for the satellite centres?

Public Accounts Committee: Children’s Health Ireland and National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Discussion (19 Oct 2023)

Cormac Devlin: I appreciate Mr. Devine has provided a figure off the top of his head. Of those approximately 300 claims for the satellite centres, how many were disputed? Were they all disputed?

Public Accounts Committee: Children’s Health Ireland and National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Discussion (19 Oct 2023)

Cormac Devlin: What was the total cost?

Public Accounts Committee: Children’s Health Ireland and National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Discussion (19 Oct 2023)

Cormac Devlin: It was not just the centre itself.

Public Accounts Committee: Children’s Health Ireland and National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Discussion (19 Oct 2023)

Cormac Devlin: Regarding the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report, there were internal control disclosures in 2021 for CHI amounting to €2.2 million because it did not follow procurement guidelines. That included the external laboratory testing facility management, ICT, recruitment, medical consumables and professional services. From that period until now, what has changed and how did it...

Public Accounts Committee: Children’s Health Ireland and National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Discussion (19 Oct 2023)

Cormac Devlin: Is Mr. Flanagan saying those systems and policies were not in place for 2021 and they have been strengthened?

Public Accounts Committee: Children’s Health Ireland and National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Discussion (19 Oct 2023)

Cormac Devlin: Is Children's Health Ireland, CHI, applying them across the board now?

Public Accounts Committee: Children’s Health Ireland and National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Discussion (19 Oct 2023)

Cormac Devlin: Okay. Obviously it stands out in the financial statement. From CHI's financial statement, page 20 of the annual report states that €77,000 in respect of request for settlement of private insurance invoices was rejected by the insurance company. Who wants to take that and what was the issue there?

Public Accounts Committee: Children’s Health Ireland and National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Discussion (19 Oct 2023)

Cormac Devlin: Are the processes changed somewhat to try to minimise that rejection of invoices?

Public Accounts Committee: Children’s Health Ireland and National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Discussion (19 Oct 2023)

Cormac Devlin: The reason I ask is it will be a bigger challenge with the bigger entity. Mr. Flanagan mentioned complex claims. I presume it will be a more challenging issue for the bigger hospital.

Public Accounts Committee: Children’s Health Ireland and National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Discussion (19 Oct 2023)

Cormac Devlin: That is a fair point. I only have two minutes left. In terms of the recommendations from the PwC report of April 2019, there were 11 recommendations made. Specifically, the report states: The Guaranteed Maximum Price established through the two-stage tender process does not provide a contractual ceiling on cost and significant residual risks remain of further cost escalation. A primary...

Public Accounts Committee: Children’s Health Ireland and National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Discussion (19 Oct 2023)

Cormac Devlin: Every single one?

Public Accounts Committee: Children’s Health Ireland and National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Discussion (19 Oct 2023)

Cormac Devlin: I just wanted to clarify that.

Public Accounts Committee: Children’s Health Ireland and National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Discussion (19 Oct 2023)

Cormac Devlin: Sorry, yes?

Public Accounts Committee: Children’s Health Ireland and National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Discussion (19 Oct 2023)

Cormac Devlin: I thank Mr. Tierney for that. Finally, in terms of the special purpose body established in 2007 that Mr. Gunning leads, sticking with Mr. Gunning's projected timeline of October 2024, if that is happening, what happens to the special purpose vehicle? Does it continue on for 12 months or 24 months? What is the timeline attached to the special purpose vehicle?